BY
April Hutchinson

City bathes in luxury glow with new openings

With Bath on the brink of becoming one of the UK’s top 10 UK tourist cities, Hotel Indigo is set to open in the heart of the Unesco World Heritage Site.

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Bathing in glory - two new hotels set to open in Bath

St James’s Hotel Group has started work on the first phase of the new 117-bedroom hotel, which it will operate as Hotel Indigo under a franchise with InterContinental Hotels Group.

The hotel will feature a restaurant, bar and gym and will open at the end of 2017. Located on the site of two existing hotels, Pratt’s Hotel and The Halcyon on South Parade, the project is being designed by Architect CT.

This will be the first time Indigo and St James’s have worked together on a hotel project and its design will pay homage to its historic neighbourhood, while the restaurant and bar will tap into Indigo’s new locally crafted food and beverage offering, launched last year.

Anna Corkill, IHG’s UK development director, said: “We are thrilled with Hotel Indigo’s performance and are confident that Hotel Indigo Bath will become a brand-defining property, reinforcing our presence in the UK boutique market. It’s a perfect site and we’re looking forward to working with St James’s Hotel Group to welcome even more visitors to Bath in 2017 and beyond.”

“Bath is on the brink of becoming one of the UK’s top ten UK tourist cities," said Shaun Robinson, chief executive of Somerston Capital Limited. “According to the latest rankings from VisitBritain, foreign visitors to the city rose by 36.8% in 2014-15 - leaping five places to reach 12th place.

“It’s an exciting move for us and we are convinced that working with the Indigo brand is an excellent way of joining in the buzz of the UK boutique hotel movement.”

It seems Bath is having a luxury moment. The Gainsborough Bath Spa – which boasts five-star credentials and direct access to the spa waters – opened in 2014, and October will see the arrival of another luxury offering, with the opening of No. 15 Great Pulteney, a Grade I listed Georgian townhouse with 31 guestrooms, cocktail bar, private dining room and series of drawing rooms.

Interiors at No. 15 are by Martin Hulbert and Jay Grierson of Martin Hulbert Design, one of the UK’s star interior design firms. The pair’s previous work includes interiors at Coworth Park, Chewton Glen Hotel & Spa, Barnsley House and The Grove.